MobyGames Classic: Half-Life

MobyGames Classic continues with our second selection: Valve's 1998 hit Half-Life. Tell us your Half-Life stories in the comments below and we'll add them to the weekend update for this feature!

Released in 1998, Half-Life set the stage for story-driven first-person shooters. While games like Halo have been praised for thrusting the genre into the modern age, its cinematic nature couldn't exist without stepping through the doors burst open by developer Valve. Widely considered one of the best games of all time, the original Half-Life is a welcome addition to our list of classics.

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"It reeks of quality, and stinks of class--the creators obviously cared about making a good game, and that simple fact sets 'Half-Life' apart from everything else," MobyGames.com user Ashley Pomeroy wrote in her 2000 review of the game.

Following its success on PC, Half-Life was brought to the PlayStation 2. It was clear that the title had begun spilling beyond the reach of PC gamers and into the growing console market, a market that craved a title of its quality. At one point, a Dreamcast version was nearing release but was never made available in stores, disappointing more than a few (Xav still complains about it).

Beyond the fact that Half-Life was awarded "over 50 Game of the Year awards" when it launched, it helped usher in a new era of gaming. Titles like Counter-Strike owe their creation and success to Half-Life's development and Valve's support of its passionate community.

Tell Us Your Stories! We want to hear about your experiences with Half-Life. Tell us your stories. Why did you love it? What drove you crazy? Remember it fondly with us in the comments below. We'll select some of your thoughts and memories and add it to a Weekend Update to this feature.

Description: Black Mesa Research Facility is an ultra-secret laboratory under government contract, conducting top-secret and extremely volatile experiments, where the protagonist Gordon Freeman works. One particular morning, Freeman makes his way to the office for an ordinary and scheduled experiment. However, when the experiment initiates, Gordon realizes that it might not be as ordinary as he thought. Chaos ensues and aliens from the planet Xen begin to flood the complex. Gordon is then thrust into a new role: one of defender and survivor of the Black Mesa complex.

MobyGames Classic is our chance to look back at the games that helped shape the video game industry with the help of our sister site MobyGames.com. It combines a short history lesson on the title and anecdotes from the Shacknews community.